The Archers

Events spiral out of control for the Grundys, and Amber makes a big decision.

George is helping Ed with some tree surgery at Grange Farm, but accidentally hits Ed in the face with a branch. Later, when Brad comes over to Little Grange, Emma notices blood on a door handle. When Emma and Brad see the cut to Ed’s eyebrow they wince at how deep it is. George explains what happened, before Brad remarks on the same thing happening the other day. George insists last time was different and he never meant to hit Ed. George and Ed cover that both incidents were accidents, but Brad isn’t convinced. Emma patches Ed up, before he heads back with George to finish the job. Brad confronts Emma with his suspicions about all the “accidents” happening to Ed – that’s three in a month. Is Ed getting sloppy - or is he letting George hit him? Brad thinks Ed might be protecting George by taking the blame off him, so he won’t get sent back to prison. Emma can’t believe Ed wouldn’t have told her if that was the case, but Brad’s worried George might do Ed some serious harm if it happens again. Chris takes Alice and Martha to the last day of Deck The Hall, then while Martha’s crafting a reindeer he teases Alice about appearing as a fairy in the Tractor Run. Alice sympathises over things not working out with Carly, before suggesting her and Chris are doomed to being single. Chris disagrees, showing Alice a dating app he’s signed up to. He thinks Alice should do the same, but she isn’t keen.

George cycles up to Bridge Farm, asking Pat if they’ve got any work going. She puts him off, saying she’ll let him know if they need someone. Tony then joins Pat, ready to take some winter bedding over to Meadow Farm. On his way back George has a barbed exchange with Hannah, swapping insults over who has the sadder life, before Hannah gets upset and goes. Later at The Bull, Hannah talks through with Fallon what just happened. Hannah knows she shouldn’t have risen to George’s bait, but Fallon reckons it’s like George is on a mission to rile everyone. They agree someone should talk to George – but not Harrison. Fallon then knocks at George’s door, telling him forcefully he needs to leave them all alone, including Hannah. George tries brazening it out, but underneath it’s clear Fallon has rattled him. Pat and Tony find Esme in the yard at Meadow Farm, in the middle of clearing out a storage barn. She’s stunned when they tell her they’ve been collecting spare bales of winter bedding for her, from local farmers. When she offers them money they refuse, telling her it’s a gift from the farming community. Esme then lays out a thank you tea for them. She’s so grateful for all the help she’s had from everyone. Pat and Tony encourage Esme to contact the land agent about the tenancy, now the likes of Josh are showing interest, before sharing thoughts on coping with bereavement and how time is the best healer.

Jolene and Kenton start early on some cleaning jobs before Fallon arrives and gives them the present of Christmas Day off while Harrison and her take over for the day. Later, Harrison broaches the subject of George, but Fallon warns him off. Harrison though is grateful to Kenton for trying to protect him from hearing about what happened, even at the cost of being traumatised again. Fallon insists, no more George, not on Christmas Day. Trying a different tack later, Harrison tells Fallon he’s been working on his anger management – and it paid off when Kenton got scared by George and Holly. Dealing with what George said to Fallon will be harder, but Harrison suggests dealing with it together in whatever way Fallon prefers. Fallon repeats that she just wants a lovely Christmas together and not to think about George, which Harrison accepts. Alan catches Hannah going nowhere in particular. She explains about her mum’s dementia and how her planned visit today has been postponed. As she doesn’t have any other plans, Alan invites Hannah for a drink at the pub. Where Fallon catches Kenton and Jolene raiding the kitchen for snacks, while the hired-in chef is serving in the restaurant. They confess that rather than heading to Lower Loxley they’d prefer to stay in, slobbing about in pyjamas. Fallon offers to pass on their excuses, before she joins Hannah for Christmas dinner. It’s clear Hannah would have eaten alone otherwise, as she usually does. Joined by tipsy Jolene, they pull crackers together and drink in the Christmas spirit.

Hannah and Jazzer are driving their tractor to the start of the Run when Tony calls saying there’s a problem with his Fordson. He offers Hannah his place at the head of the line. Hannah thinks it’s a ploy for Tony to nab her position at the back, but Jazzer believes Tony and persuades her to agree. Hannah makes it clear how serious she is about winning the race to collect most money. Everyone then loves it as Hannah and turkey Jazzer lead the Run with angelic Eddie not far behind. Fresh from his motorbike stint, wise man Alan joins Joy to count the donations, with firm instructions to count Hannah and Tony’s buckets separately. Meanwhile, Lynda and Ruairi are marshals making sure everything runs smoothly. Ruairi wants to know if buying Paul a watch to apologise for upsetting him is a good idea and Lynda delivers a little sermon about not conflating a gift with an apology when the sincerity of the apology is what really matters. Then Tony’s Fordson passes with sleigh bells, a snow machine and Pat dressed as an elf, before Ruairi runs over to apologise to Paul sans gift. Alan confesses he inadvertently mixed all the collected money together, but Joy is happy to deal with Hannah and Tony if they kick up a fuss. Joy then announces they’ve raised over £1200 for charity, while Hannah and Tony are mutually complimentary about their entries, before wishing each other a Merry Christmas!